Image via The Oatmeal
Happy Friday!
Would you like some disturbing facts?
(Of course you would!)
*There is only one more Friday standing between you and Thanksgiving.
*Black Friday is two weeks from today. (Do you Black Friday shop? Got your eye on anything in particular this year?)
*6 more Fridays and then it is Christmas Week! (Yes, it should be a week. Just like your birthday should be celebrated for a week. Duh.)
*7 more Fridays and then 2012 IS OVER. (whaaaaat?)
So that is sort of sobering. Not that I was drinking. It’s still morning guys! And I am NOT in New Orleans — unlike many of my favorite internet friends who are enjoying a fun weekend at The Blathering in NOLA. Can someone tell me if NOLA is an acceptable reference term? Or is it kind of like when people call San Francisco “Frisco” and then everyone rolls their eyes and dies. (Please PLEASE don’t ever say Frisco.)
Anyway, if you are there in New Orleans and reading this: GET OFF YOUR PHONE AND GO EAT BEIGNETS AND DRINK HURRICANES YOU SILLY GOOSE!
If you are not in New Orleans, stick around. I have many unimportant things to discuss excitedly!
(By the way, if you haven’t caught on by now this post is going to be all over the place. I’m full of too much Friday happy energy to stay focused.)
Ok maybe there are only two other things I wanted to discuss with you excitedly and then I will let you go enjoy your weekend:
1. Thank you for all of your questions yesterday. My inbox is a gold mine. And all of your comments were AWESOME! So much food for thought I want to answer them all at once. But if I did that, this blog would turn into many other weird stream of consciousness posts like this one, and well — one can only take so much of that. I’m trying to do YOU a favor. But I will answer them all. So if you emailed me or left a comment, rest assured it will be answered. And if you still have a question…shoot!
2. Lately I have been in a bit of a CrossFit funk. Not that I’m not enjoying myself — I am and, of course, I don’t plan on stopping anytime soon. But with all the running I was doing for the half marathon, and all the Halloween candy I was consuming LIKE IT WAS MY JOB, the PRs were few and far between, you know? Shocker.
I think this is sort of normal — well, I mean, obviously I’m not going to be hitting PRs if I’m eating garbage and not showing up to the gym as much as usual — but I guess what I’m saying is plateaus are normal. But just because something is normal doesn’t mean it wasn’t still getting me down a bit. You see, after 2 years of CrossFitting I was kind of hitting that plateau where strengths stay strengths and weaknesses stay weaknesses. The stuff I still struggle with (pull ups, toes to bar, hand stand push ups, basically anything that involves the proportional relationship between your body weight and HANGING IT FROM A BAR OR PUSHING IT OFF THE GROUND UPSIDE DOWN) was just *not* getting better. So I would sort of dread those things when they showed up in workouts.
This week especially I’ve just been feeling really bummed about it. LOTS of pull ups and toes to bar lately, so every single workout was like my own personal gift of 10-20 minutes to think about how much I suck at hanging body weight exercises. YAY! But then…THEN! (This story has a happy ending, can you feel it?) Then, last night out of nowhere I just decided I was going to practice my toes to bar (which usually just means practicing knees to elbows as a progression– WHICH I ALSO HATE) and despite the fact that I have been trying and failing REPEATEDLY for the last two years to touch my god damn toes to the god damn bar: LAST NIGHT I DID IT.
I did this:
And I did it like I’ve been doing it my whole entire life! With ease. And I did it more than once! So it wasn’t just a fluke. How weird is it when that happens? Improvement of physical skills by osmosis. Well, except you know I don’t really think it is by osmosis.
An entire year after bitching about how close I was and still not being able to do it, I DID IT. And I felt REALLY FUCKING TRIUMPHANT. So of course that lit a little fire under me to keep working on the weaknesses. And despite the fact that working on weaknesses sounds like a total downer, excitement around it is actually a nice way to head into the weekend.
Have I mentioned I’m excited about the weekend?
TGIF!
First – SERIOUS congrats are in order! Sean will be SO PROUD when I tell him. 🙂
Second – Fortheloveofallthisisholy where did 2012 go? That’s all. I’m going to go cry now.
NOLA is totally acceptable. I’m from Louisiana, so you can believe me : )
Also, congrats on T2B! I achieved it about two months ago and was so happy I didn’t even care I’d ripped my hand in the process…until later, when I did care. I now get excited about T2Bs, but not double unders. They are my nemesis. I miiiight be “busy” all day today because the WOD at my gym involves something called a “flight simulator,” which YouTube tells me involves over 5 minutes of DUs. Puke. Happy weekend!
Congrats and Happy Friday 🙂
YAY TTB! I tend to do that “osmosis” thing a lot too…like I think about how I want to get better at something, and I work on it a few times and then not for a long time…and then all of a sudden it happens. Like I’m thinking about it on a subconscious level all the dang time until I just DO it already!
I heart your rambling posts. Because your crazy rambling energy rubs off on me and I totally need that on Friday morning/afternoon. Thanks, Lady!
OK, FYI, I was going to read your post, but now I need more beignets.
That cartoon is hilarious.
I can’t imagine touching my toes up like that while holding onto a bar. Amazing! Way to go!
I am super depressed at how little time is left. How will I get all the things done I want to get done!?
Love your ramblin’ energy and congrats on toes to bar…but I have to correct one thing, as my birthday falls on the 1st of the month I like to celebrate birthday month. A week just isn’t enough.
Have a great and glorious weekend. We will be having some snow here in CO.
Yay for you sticking with it until you actually got toes to bar!
It does seem like sometimes you have to stop doing something in order to finally do it.
Did that make sense?
Congrats on the Toes to Bar! That is awesome!! I’m still so far away from one of those or a real pull-up, that it seems impossible. But thanks to post like yours, and the cheerleaders in my box, I know that if I keep at it, they’ll happen.
Yay, Holly!!! I felt the same way about t2b. Thought this posterior chain would maybe not allow that kind of movement 😉 and then one day, there they were in a warmup. Really? Yes. And that’s when 9 months of work came to fruition and I just flung my toes up there like nobodies business. What a feeling!!
YAY T2B!!!
Not to diminish you’re amazing accomplishment because it DOES take strength and practice and all that jazz, but I am convinced some people just can’t move their body the right way to do t2b until it “clicks” and then its like
“YEAH, WHUT? I DO THESE ALL DAY, ERRRRY DAY!”
I just decided to try them one day and can do them pretty easily. But people in MUCH better shape than me who can string together MOUNDS of unassisted pullups (which HAAAA ME NO CAN DO) can’t get it.
It’s just one of those things.
Oh and HSPUs? Fuck. That. Shit.
I like not being a quadriplegic, kthnxbai.
Congrats! How fun is that! I’ve never gotten close to T2B or a pull-up, I can only imagine the excitement. We are almost done with a crazy few months of wedding + buying a house + moving and I was debating whether I wanted to join a box in our new neighborhood (I’ve taken the last 6 months off). This post just made me super excited and realized I really want to get back into it. So thanks!
I love it, just when you start going off something you rediscover why you loved it in the first place! Yet another awesome feat of inspiration.
In my opinion CrossFit is all peaks and valleys. Does it suck when you’re in a valley? For sure, I was just in a HUGE valley for far too many weeks and thought about taking a CrossFit break I was so frustrated. However, I broke out of my valley in the last few weeks and I’m climbing my way up a peak. I think the important thing is to push yourself even if you look at the WOD and think “OH MAN!” but know when to take a breather because rest is not a dirty four letter word. Good for you on the toes to bar girl, those things are nasty!
I love the Oatmeal. I actually chuckle on that site rather than just blowing air out my nose like most of the funny things online.
And you rock. 🙂
DUDE, I HEAR YOU. I was just thinking that yesterday, while trying to do T2Bs (again!) and also not trying to rip my leaf-raking blister from the weekend.
I am SO PROUD of you! (And also a tiny bit jealous, but in a good way. 😉 )
xoxo, B